The Threat to Israel Is Not War

Updated Oct. 23, 2000 12:05 a.m. ET

By Paul Beaver. Mr. Beaver is spokesman for Jane's Defense, the U.K. information group that publishes Jane's Defense weekly and Jane's Intelligence Review. He is a Middle East specialist who last visited the region in late September.

L ast week's Israeli-Palestinian truce at Sharm el-Sheikh lasted less time than it took for the ink to dry on the document. More than 10 people have been killed in Arab-Israeli clashes since then, and the region remains in crisis. With Arab leaders meeting in an emergency summit last weekend...